Microsoft paying YouTubers for positive Xbox One coverage ( edited with more info )

[GribbleGrunger]

shikamaru317 said:

GribbleGrunger said:

shikamaru317 said:

There's no reason why they shouldn't do this, it's easy marketing that costs them far less than TV ads. And before you go complaining saying that it's something that only a company as dirty as Microsoft would do, you should know that Nintendo does it as well, Youtuber Jesse Cox recently mentioned that he turned down a marketing deal that Nintendo offered him to promote the Wii U. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Sony has done this in the past as well.

This is not marketing, it's bribery. To actually have an NDA in a contract of this sort is unlawful and hopefully this will backfire on MS and give them even more bad press.

It's not bribery and there is definitely no law being broken, they're simply asking Youtubers to play their games to see if they like them. Sure some greedy Youtubers will pretend to like games that they otherwise wouldn't just for the money, but that's up to them, Microsoft can't change the fact that some people are greedy. Any Youtuber with integrity will simply try the games and if they like them they like them, if they don't they don't. Many will play these games and legitimately enjoy them, and their fans will enjoy watching the playthroughs, and Microsoft will recieve positive marketing as a result.

It's against the law to promote something without disclosing that you are being paid to do so. Why do you think that Sessler always has to tell us who has sponsored his videos? It was posted above for you:

"The arrangement as described might go against the FTC's guidelines for the use of endorsements in advertising, which demand full disclosure when there is "a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement." The document offers a specific example of a video game blogger who gets a free game system that he later talks about on his blog. That blogger would need to disclose that gift, the FTC says, because his opinion is "disseminated via a form of consumer-generated media in which his relationship to the advertiser is not inherently obvious." That same reasoning would seem to apply to the opinions expressed by the video makers participating in this promotion."